Deylki
The Deylki are a people-group that make up the largest and most widespread ethnicity within the Sarpland. They claim common descent from Aye the Queen, and more broadly the ancient Kingdom of Deylk which roughly corresponds to Arkadia and Billow's Sea. According to legend, the Deylki originate from Deylk, the first and foremost of the Seventeen Towns of the Claw of Ires. Supposedly, the original Delki left the city in defiance of Deylk's religious laws which enforced the Faith of the Four. They settled in the Arkadian steppes, and devolved into several tribes, including the Mikoli, the Ylvosi, and the Vreti. These three tribes in particular finded the city of Tripoli, which would one day become known as Hocktonne. When they together executed Hockrott the Sailor, it is said they became one people, the Sartripoli. They later took on the name Deylki when the Iresmen sacked their original hometown, so that the fire of that city might never go out. There are two things that unify the Deylki more than anything else, and one is a common tongue, which has changed greatly in the thousands of years of its existence, but which has remained mutually intelligible across all Deylki tribes due to the second unifying factor, its mobile warrior horsemen. Other Sarplander tribes ride horses, but none so well as the Deylki, whom venerate horses, give them names, and hand rear them from birth. Eating horse meat is considered taboo among the Sarplanders because of this, and the Deylki especially. Sailing is also considered taboo among the Deylki, for they hate the Iresmen and their piracy. The Deylki and Heylki have a certain animosity towards one another, but do still consider themselves brothers-in-arms against other ethnicities and nations. In ancient times, the Deylki had a monarchy which arose from the family of the most powerful warrior chief, the chief of the House of Deyla. Eventually, the House of Deyla produced Aye the Queen, and in a way, technically made the Deylki the most powerful and widespread ethnicity in the world whilst the Ayish Kingdom ruled. Because of Aye the Queen, the Deylki are the only group of Sarplander with a tradition of literature and reading. It is expected that Deylki chiefs can at least read the Illuminated Word for the Faith of Calthoss the Shadow & the Shine which came to dominate the Sarpland through Telfish influence. Duldui (literally "four-fours," sixteenth birthday) is common tradition among nearwesterners, originating among the Deylki. It is a coming of age celebration, with its most famous ritual being the Reidui-Tolfki (literally "two-fours-hands"), wherein the Dulduik holds the hand of a boy, and of a girl, and those two the hand of the same gender in a chain totalling nine people. The eight pray to the four gods (and in modern times, to Calthoss) for the Dulduik to have a great fate. The Deylki often braid their hair in what is considered a visual reference to "music" or "song," a value which they have always held in high regard. Music and song is often attached to religious ideas in Deylki culture. Spiral patterns, curved swords, guns, and whips are also considered to be visual references to the reverence of music. "Deylki dancing" is a type of dance wherein thin black robes or dresses are worn, and spun around in a beautiful flowing manner. Category:Peoples Category:States Category:History